Get a distortion pedal or save for a Valve amp?

I've currently got a Blackstar ID:30 which although gives great gain tones, when i try palm muting it sounds very 'flat' and not got much punch. A couple of people recommended i get either a boost pedal (like a tube screamer) or a distortion pedal to go in the front of my amp; but i was always led to believe that distortion pedals don't work well on digital/modelling amps to teh point where you just don't hear the difference

Anyway i'm weighing up trying to find a pedal that would give my palm muting more punch or just to save and get something like a low wattage valve combo (around the 20w mark something which can dial back the wattage as i will be playing in the bedroom mostly but i could possibly be trying out for bands soon)

perhaps some more practice would help your palm muting. more or "better distortion can only maybe cover up bad technique a bit and in the long run won't help much.

your blackstar is a modeling amp so putting an overdrive in front may not work they way you want. I'd see if I could borrow an overdrive or take amp to shop to try pedals before investing.

a decent tube amp that is meant for metal would be a good idea. real low wattage isn't as big a deal as you might think. 20 watts or 50 won't make much of a difference in how much you can turn up amp. 50 will give you more in a band situation though. I regularly practice with a 50 watt tube amp and the neighbors haven't killed me yet. takes some effort to deal in a real good sound at lower volumes but it's worth the effort.

If the ID series does take OD pedals as diabolical said, then yes it may help but investing in a proper tube amp would help you out in the long run. Generally a TS9 is used in metal tones anyway so if you get that or a similar pedal and it helps you out, then good. But if not, you can still use it when you get a proper tube amp down the road. Maybe use a bit less gain on the amp in general as well. However, as monwobobbo said I think continuing to work on your technique, which you have a solid foundation already, will help out some too.

^ yeah. i haven't tried the amp so maybe it does take a boost well- and as you said, that boost will likely be useful once you have a tube amp, too.

Another thing is- no need to fork out the cash for a "real" tubescreamer, really, since there are cheaper clones available (or even the tubescreamer mini is a good bit cheaper than the ts9 or 808 and still made in japan if you don't want to cheap out too much) and you don't want to spend so much on a pedal that it puts your amp fund back to square one.

and yeah practice will help as well.

and monwobobbo makes a good point about the wattage- 20 watts, if you want to crank it, will be way too loud in your bedroom just like 50 or 100 will. you need to find something that sounds good at really low volumes (an od pedal as a boost will help as well) which doesn't always translate as the lowest wattage you can find. in fact, it often doesn't, especially for heavier tones.

EDIT: diabolical- it depends on where he is. the BBE stuff seems like good value in the USA (I haven't tried it), but in the UK (and maybe Europe as a whole) it's not really good value at all, it's getting on for boutique pricing for some reason I can't much understand. (Well, I have my suspicions )

Quote by crownegamers

I saw in a couple of pictures that on Bucketheads Les Paul (only some pictures) that his neck pickup is painted in white. Can anyone explain to me why he would do this, and if there are any pros and cons.

Quote by dspellman

The guy wears a KFC Bucket and a white mask during performances, and you're interested in the color of his pickup covers?

yeah an sd1 is awesome. some have a bit of bypass bleed, but you can cure that with another buffered pedal in front (or buy the cheapo daphon clone which doesn't seem to have that problem).

Quote by crownegamers

I saw in a couple of pictures that on Bucketheads Les Paul (only some pictures) that his neck pickup is painted in white. Can anyone explain to me why he would do this, and if there are any pros and cons.

Quote by dspellman

The guy wears a KFC Bucket and a white mask during performances, and you're interested in the color of his pickup covers?

General consenus here is that my amp can take pedals in the front of it, i was lead to believe that pedals in front of a digital modelling amp sound terrible but might take my amp to a store and try some out jsut to see

General consenus here is that my amp can take pedals in the front of it, i was lead to believe that pedals in front of a digital modelling amp sound terrible but might take my amp to a store and try some out jsut to see

depends on the pedal and whether it is interacting with amps built in fx. some will work fine others may not. definitely a good idea to try before you buy if at all possible.

I saw in a couple of pictures that on Bucketheads Les Paul (only some pictures) that his neck pickup is painted in white. Can anyone explain to me why he would do this, and if there are any pros and cons.

Quote by dspellman

The guy wears a KFC Bucket and a white mask during performances, and you're interested in the color of his pickup covers?

I think the SD1 sounds not very good stock, and generally tends to be a bit fizzy unless you do one of the many improvements to its circuit. It is not one of the pedals that I like or would recommend unless you want to grab a soldering iron.

As much as I like heavy tight strings, through my gear it makes my picking in general a bit muted sounding, but a little lighter on the strings and a heavier pointier pick brings out the chug a bit more.

As much as I like heavy tight strings, through my gear it makes my picking in general a bit muted sounding, but a little lighter on the strings and a heavier pointier pick brings out the chug a bit more.

I think the SD1 sounds not very good stock, and generally tends to be a bit fizzy unless you do one of the many improvements to its circuit. It is not one of the pedals that I like or would recommend unless you want to grab a soldering iron.

i think it's awesome apart from the bypass bleed

Quote by crownegamers

I saw in a couple of pictures that on Bucketheads Les Paul (only some pictures) that his neck pickup is painted in white. Can anyone explain to me why he would do this, and if there are any pros and cons.

Quote by dspellman

The guy wears a KFC Bucket and a white mask during performances, and you're interested in the color of his pickup covers?

I had the same exact question as you, so I went to my local Guitar Center and asked to demo some distortion and overdrive pedals. TL;DR of my experience:

~MXR Fullbore Or as I like to call it: MXR Earbore. I get some like that sharp grating gain i e Dimebag but It's just not my style.

~[brand I can't recall the name of] Dark Matter I am a big fan of the name. Not too big on the sound though. Nice gain that is High gain like the Earbore, however a lot less nasally. I've got a friend who uses it in Djent mixes, however it's just not my style

~Fulltone OCD Woah. So this other bearded staff member came over and started asking me what tone I'm looking for and I said "I've been told my tones are like a mix of the punchy and heavy mid-low end of Megadeth style paired with the warm British thickness of Iron Maiden or Judas Priest." Then he said "Aww hell yeah man, I got the perfect pedal you'd love!" Then he passed me an OCD. After jamming a bit with it I quickly fell in love with it. It only took 10-15 minutes of me jamming on it for me to ask "How much is it". Then he made me cream by saying "Oh it's our monthly deal and its $89.99" I came into that place to DEMO gear and I was walking out with the thing.

Long story cut short, if you want bedroom privacy, especially if it has a headphone jack, but love the thickness and warmth of tube amps, get an Overdrive pedal. I personally recommend the Fulltone OCD.

I had the same exact question as you, so I went to my local Guitar Center and asked to demo some distortion and overdrive pedals. TL;DR of my experience:

~MXR Fullbore Or as I like to call it: MXR Earbore. I get some like that sharp grating gain i e Dimebag but It's just not my style.

~[brand I can't recall the name of] Dark Matter I am a big fan of the name. Not too big on the sound though. Nice gain that is High gain like the Earbore, however a lot less nasally. I've got a friend who uses it in Djent mixes, however it's just not my style

~Fulltone OCD Woah. So this other bearded staff member came over and started asking me what tone I'm looking for and I said "I've been told my tones are like a mix of the punchy and heavy mid-low end of Megadeth style paired with the warm British thickness of Iron Maiden or Judas Priest." Then he said "Aww hell yeah man, I got the perfect pedal you'd love!" Then he passed me an OCD. After jamming a bit with it I quickly fell in love with it. It only took 10-15 minutes of me jamming on it for me to ask "How much is it". Then he made me cream by saying "Oh it's our monthly deal and its $89.99" I came into that place to DEMO gear and I was walking out with the thing.

Long story cut short, if you want bedroom privacy, especially if it has a headphone jack, but love the thickness and warmth of tube amps, get an Overdrive pedal. I personally recommend the Fulltone OCD.

I saw in a couple of pictures that on Bucketheads Les Paul (only some pictures) that his neck pickup is painted in white. Can anyone explain to me why he would do this, and if there are any pros and cons.

Quote by dspellman

The guy wears a KFC Bucket and a white mask during performances, and you're interested in the color of his pickup covers?

yeah. quite dark-sounding (i guess that's where they got the slightly confusing name- a lot of people think it's a metal pedal because of the name), in my experience it sounds better into a sparkly clean type amp.

Quote by crownegamers

I saw in a couple of pictures that on Bucketheads Les Paul (only some pictures) that his neck pickup is painted in white. Can anyone explain to me why he would do this, and if there are any pros and cons.

Quote by dspellman

The guy wears a KFC Bucket and a white mask during performances, and you're interested in the color of his pickup covers?